The normal operation of a computing device is disrupted when a deadlock occurs in, for example, the operating system, an application program, or other process running on the computing device. A deadlock is a condition that occurs when two processes are each waiting for the other process to complete before continuing. When a deadlock occurs, neither process can continue. Thus, both processes “hang”.
Certain types of computing devices allow users to debug a deadlock condition. However, computing devices that do not allow users to debug a deadlock condition often require that the user clear the deadlock by terminating the process or application that is deadlocked. Valuable information may be lost when terminating the process or application in this manner. For example, information associated with the cause of the deadlock may be lost when the process or application is terminated. Loss of this information hinders the ability to modify the process or application to reduce the likelihood of future deadlocks.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system that detects and responds to deadlocks in systems that do not support debugging or related operations.